Politics and Romance: Billy Bragg at the Birchmere
March 27 (my b-day!)
Recommended Beverage to go with this Show:
hot tea (iced tea, in a Brit’s eyes, is strictly prohibited)
Billy Bragg has a lot to say. He was quite the storyteller at the Birchmere on Monday night, but managed to find time to sing some songs as well. He admitted losing his upper register while performing at the South By Southwest Festival in Austin earlier this month, and had fans worried when he came out to help opening act Jill Sobule close her set with Bowie’s “All the Young Dudes,” which he completely butchered. But, he then sounded fantastic during his two-hour-plus set, which featured some classics, covers, and new songs.
Sipping hot tea to nurse his throat between songs, he complained about the iced tea he was served in Texas and jokingly threatened to serve the next Texan he meets in England “a hot coke.” He then said he’d sing in the spirit of “Johnny Clash”—a country-Brit rock invention whose song, a spoof on the Clash—could be called “Rock at the Jazz Bar.”
Bragg, who sometimes tours with his band, The Blokes, was a one-man punk rock act that night, as he is on many of his recordings. His opening song, “Sexuality,” was well received, as fans undoubtedly were relieved his voice sounded strong and on pitch. And he sang in that distinctive fashion, with his East London Cockney accent that is unmistakably Bragg.
Fans sat patiently and politely through several long political diatribes and a British history lesson. While plugging unions and nonviolent protest, he sang some of his politically inspired songs, such as “NPWA” (“No Power Without Accountability”).
A major highlight was Bragg’s ode to the legendary Woody Guthrie. Bragg played the ballads “Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key” and “Ingrid Bergman” recorded with Wilco off the Mermaid Avenue album, and “All You Fascists” from its sequel. The album is named for the street Guthrie and his family had lived on in Coney Island, Brooklyn. The project, undertaken with Guthrie’s daughter, Nora, aimed to revive her father’s unrecorded, lost songs by taking Guthrie’s lyrics and setting them to music, composed and performed by Bragg and Wilco. The result is a moving, beautiful two-disc tribute.
Sipping hot tea to nurse his throat between songs, he complained about the iced tea he was served in Texas and jokingly threatened to serve the next Texan he meets in England “a hot coke.” He then said he’d sing in the spirit of “Johnny Clash”—a country-Brit rock invention whose song, a spoof on the Clash—could be called “Rock at the Jazz Bar.”
Bragg, who sometimes tours with his band, The Blokes, was a one-man punk rock act that night, as he is on many of his recordings. His opening song, “Sexuality,” was well received, as fans undoubtedly were relieved his voice sounded strong and on pitch. And he sang in that distinctive fashion, with his East London Cockney accent that is unmistakably Bragg.
Fans sat patiently and politely through several long political diatribes and a British history lesson. While plugging unions and nonviolent protest, he sang some of his politically inspired songs, such as “NPWA” (“No Power Without Accountability”).
A major highlight was Bragg’s ode to the legendary Woody Guthrie. Bragg played the ballads “Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key” and “Ingrid Bergman” recorded with Wilco off the Mermaid Avenue album, and “All You Fascists” from its sequel. The album is named for the street Guthrie and his family had lived on in Coney Island, Brooklyn. The project, undertaken with Guthrie’s daughter, Nora, aimed to revive her father’s unrecorded, lost songs by taking Guthrie’s lyrics and setting them to music, composed and performed by Bragg and Wilco. The result is a moving, beautiful two-disc tribute.
Bragg closed the show with a medley of songs from his first album, Life’s A Riot with Spy vs. Spy, released in 1984, including “The Man in the Iron Mask and “The Milkman of Human Kindness.” On his final song, “A New England,” Bragg let the crowd sing the chorus: “I don’t want to change the world; I’m not looking for a new England. Just looking for another girl.” Though many of his songs suggest a desire to change the world, he insisted that his box set contains more love songs than political ones.
posted by Dana @ 4:46 PM
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